Friday, November 23, 2012

Conference: Textile trade and distribution in antiquity

Textile trade and distribution in antiquity -

International conference

9th & 10th April 2013 Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany)

Organizer: Dr. Kerstin Droß-Krüpe

Textile trade and distribution in antiquity - International conference - 9th & 10th April 2013 Philipps-Universität Marburg (Germany) Organizer: Dr. Kerstin Droß-Krüpe The interdisciplinary conference "Textile trade and distribution in antiquity" aims at providing new insights about the dynamics and extent of the distribution of textiles in antiquity. The main objective is to re-evaluate the ancient economy – using textiles as the key element. Other declared targets of this conference are making textile knowledge an integrated part of research in the Humanities, broadening scientific perspectives and joining methodological forces. Humanities and Textile Research alike can clearly benefit from the integration of Economic and Life Sciences – so fibres, dyes, textiles, written sources and economic theories can be interlinked to form new parameters for the explanation of the economics of ancient environments.

Though ancient textile production has received more and more attention during the last decades, trading and distribution textiles is still largely unresearched. This is even more astonishing as the qualitative and quantitative evaluation concerning the distribution levels and patterns of goods in ancient times has been heavily debated for more than a century within Classics. The distribution of textiles provides a highly promising field of the research of the underlying economic principles because textiles are a basic human need, but additionally can convey and symbolize the gender-related, social, occupational or political status of a person. Apart from that textiles are well suited for trading over long distances as the ratio between transporting costs and profit is particularly low. Besides the finished gown, almost all other intermediate steps of production can be easily traded and merchandised. Using data about the textile trade from different parts of the Mediterranean will make it become possible to gain new insights and thus provide a new interpretation of the complex nature of the ancient exchange of goods and open up new interdisciplinary research avenues. So this conference will bring together different disciplines and methodological approaches to analyse textile material traded, textile traders and the forming and operating of institutions to ensure a smooth running of all textile exchange processes alike. Moreover, the conference will also include examining the cultural and technological transfer in so-called "contact zones" and ancient trading routes. There will be five non-parallel sections: The economics of textiles Textiles in the Greek and Roman world Textiles between East and West More than texts – (New) Analytical methods Make it seen – Visualisation of professions and fashion in textile contexts Conference languages will be English and German. Internationally renowned scholars from seven European countries declared their willingness to attend and contribute to this conference – covering a wide range of disciplines. Their papers will focus on ancient written sources, archaeological remains or Natural Sciences to shed light on the functionality of ancient textile trade from Bronze Age to Late Antiquity from very different angles.